Canada opens Olympic men's hockey tournament with win over Germany
CBC
Ben Street had a goal and an assist as Canada's Olympic men's hockey team stormed out of the gate early before cruising to a 5-1 victory over Germany on Thursday at the Beijing Games.
Alex Grant, Daniel Winnik, Maxim Noreau and Jordan Weal also scored in both countries' tournament opener, while Eric O'Dell and Kent Johnson added two assists each. Edward Pasquale made 23 saves.
Tobias Rieder replied for Germany, which upset another group of Canadian non-NHLers in the semifinals of the 2018 Olympics in PyeongChang. Mathias Niederberger stopped 22 shots.
In a surprising twist, Hockey Canada announced moments before warmup that Claude Julien, who had been tabbed to coach the team before breaking his ribs during training camp in Switzerland, had joined the group and would resume his duties following the game. Jeremy Colliton, who stepped in to fill Julien's void, will now revert back to an assistant's role.
WATCH | Claude Julien returns for Canada:
The United States thumped China 8-0 in Group A's other game.
The game at Wukesong Sports Centre, which hosted basketball at the 2008 Summer Olympics, didn't feature the star power hockey fans envisioned just two months ago after the NHL withdrew from the event because of COVID-19 concerns.
And while the likes of Connor McDavid, Sidney Crosby, Leon Draisaitl and Tim Stutzle were thousands of kilometres away for the 9:10 p.m. local start in front of a few hundred flag-waving Chinese spectators, the game still had name recognition from a Canadian perspective.
Eric Staal, who won gold in 2010 and is looking for another NHL shot, is the captain, while Owen Power and Mason McTavish, the first and third overall picks at the 2021 NHL draft, are also on the roster.
But it was Canada's lesser names leading the way on this night.
The Germans have 10 returning players, including former NHLer Dominik Kahun, from the team that advanced to the 2018 gold-medal game with a 4-3 victory over Canada, which has O'Dell, Noreau and Mat Robinson back wearing the red Maple Leaf.
WATCH | Alex Grant opens the scoring for Canada after massive hit:
Canada came out flying in the first period Thursday on the smaller NHL-sized ice, with O'Dell — perhaps looking for revenge from four years ago — crushing blue-liner Marco Nowak with a clean, devastating hit behind the German net.
The puck was worked to the point, where Grant, listed as Canada's seventh defenceman, fired home the opener off the post and in at 4:43, with Nowak, who went to the locker room and didn't return, still trying to shake out the cobwebs.
The Winter Olympics and Paralympics have, for decades, been a celebration of snow, cold and mountains — a global showcase for sports built on reliable winter conditions.
Mikaela Shiffrin is dominating in slalom. Lindsey Vonn is doing the same in downhill at age 41.
Canada's skeleton team denied accusations by American Katie Uhlaender that Canada's coach sabotaged her chances of sliding in the Olympic Games, while the world governing body of the sport has ordered an investigation.
No ice is colder and harder than speed skating ice. The precision it takes has meant Olympic speed skaters have never competed for gold on a temporary indoor rink, until the 2026 Milan-Cortina Winter Games.
The experienced ice dance pair of Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier will headline a contingent of 12 athletes named to Canada's figure skating team for Milano Cortina 2026.
Chris Jones reports from Italy ahead of the Milano Cortina Olympics.
Eight straight losses to the Americans.
Canadian freestyle skier Mikaël Kingsbury earned the 100th World Cup victory of his career on Friday night.
Hockey Canada and the Canadian Olympic Committee will name the Olympic women’s hockey team on Friday afternoon, less than a month before the Canadians open the tournament against Finland on Feb. 5.
In 2018, at the Gangneung Ice Arena in Pyeongchang, legendary ice dancers Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir strapped on their skates for the final time at the Olympics.
Shekai Mills-Knight, a freshman running back for Ole Miss, will earn some attention Thursday night when his Rebels take on the Miami Hurricanes in an NCAA semifinal football game in Glendale, Ariz., but he first made news a decade ago as a grade-schooler deemed too big for the local little league.
Not so long ago, the prospect of two Canadians meeting in Italy’s Serie A would have seemed an unlikely turn. But on Tuesday night in Reggio Emilia, in the crisp, anxious minutes before the whistle blew and host Sassuolo dug in against Juventus, Ismael Koné and Jonathan David stood on opposite sides of the pitch, pretending not to know each other.
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